As the Tampa Bay Buccaneers are prepping to meet the Washington Commanders in the Wild Card round of this week's NFC playoffs, a former coach is in the news.

During the latest edition of his "The Right Time" podcast, sports journalist Bomani Jones defended the Patriots even though it's now clear New England was always going to hire Patriots Hall of Famer and one-time Associated Press Coach of the Year Award winner Mike Vrabel for the job.

The New England Patriots reportedly interviewed a pair of head coaching candidates on Tuesday, as both Byron Leftwich and Pep Hamilton were reported to have met with the team about their head coaching vacancy.

The Patriots announced they completed interviews with Byron Leftwich and Pep Hamilton on Tuesday. That makes them the first team to comply with the Rooney Rule, which requires teams to conduct in-person interviews with at least two minority candidates.

This comes two days after New England's owner, Robert Kraft, announced that head coach Jerod Mayo was fired following the team's disappointing 4-13 season.

Mike Vrabel is believed to be the frontrunner for the head coaching job in New England, and the team quickly cleared a path to hiring him by interviewing former Tampa Bay Buccaneers offensive coordinator Byron Leftwich and former Houston Texans offensive coordinator Pep Hamilton on Tuesday.

The New England Patriots are interviewing former Tampa Bay Buccaneers offensive coordinator Byron Leftwich as a head coaching candidate, The Athletic's

The New England Patriots have started their search for a new head coach after Jarod Mayo was fired on Sunday. On Tuesday, the team interviewed former Tampa Bay Buccaneers offensive coordinator Byron Leftwich and former Houston Texans offensive coordinator Pep Hamilton.

The New England Patriots could be on the verge of hiring their next coach after completing an interview with Detroit Lions offensive coordinator Ben Johnson on Friday, the fourth candidate to be brought in as part of the search to fill the vacancy created by the firing of Jerod Mayo.

The New England Patriots announced they have completed interviews with former Buccaneers OC Byron Leftwich and former Texans OC Pep Hamilton for their head coaching vacancy.  Both interviews were today.